Phoenix of Love

This is one of my favorite absurd sayings. It points out how far overboard we can go in trying to speed up life and get things over with. I often find myself rushing to finish things for no other reason than a feeling that it is important to get things done as quickly and efficiently [...]

This is one of my favorite song phrases. I love it, like many of my favorite specimens of the English language, because of its perfect ambiguity. When I first heard the song (”Shine” by Vienna Teng), I interpreted it to mean “in this broken world which we choose”—implying that this world is a broken one, [...]

I want to be
the flicker of a firefly:
strand of sun with wings and feet,
pinpoint passion of yellow heat;
and find a way to live and die
concisely free

I’ve always been sort of fascinated by endings and beginnings. It’s a mix of resignation and romanticism that might seem strange on the surface.
There’s this line from a poem by Gerard Hopkins that I think about sometimes. It was partly the inspiration for this blog. It says “all/Life death does end and each day dies [...]

I wish I were a phoenix, so I could die
succinctly at the end of every day
and wake the next reborn, and, while I pray,
pack all my life in one short day’s supply.
I’d never let a single minute lie
misspent across my pyre, or throw away
the precious pith of friendship. I would say
I care about you now, [...]